Automatic roux maker

ABSTRACT

An automatic roux maker including a pot for heating and agitating (mixing and moving) the roux during the cooking process, in which a motor-driven agitator is included and suspended within the pot for mixing the roux during cooking and for preventing scorching of the roux. At the bottom of the centrally located agitator shaft is included, for example, two diametrically opposed, paddle arms which ride and sweep on the bottom of the pot and are pivotally connected to a slotted support which is capable of floating up-and-down with respect to the agitator shaft. The flexible sweeping of the bottom of the pot prevents any of the roux from remaining on the bottom of the pot for any significant period of time, preventing scorching of the roux. A timed thermostat driven controller utilizing the information from a thermostat sensor included within the pot maintains the temperature within the desired range for the desired period of time and also continues the rotation of the agitator shaft after the cooking cycle has been stopped until a lowered, set, safe temperature of the roux occurs, which prolonged agitation continues to prevent any scorching of the roux during the elevated portion of the cool-down cycle.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional application of Ser. No. 422,570 filedSept. 24, 1982, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,492,713.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a timed, temperature controlledagitation and cooking system and associated agitator and cooking pot andto a method and a combined agitator/cooker for automatically makingroux. More particularly, the present invention relates to an automaticsystem designed to brown flour in a roux by mixing for example wheatflour with cooking oil while applying constant, controlled heat to theingredients while agitation is controlled and prolonged to prevent anyscorching of the roux.

2. Prior Art Background

A roux is a basic cooking ingredient used especially in French andCreole cooking, as well as in Continental and Italian cooking, and isused for example as a base for making gravies, soups, sauces, etc. Aroux is made by cooking a mixture of browned flour and vegetable oil orother fat based substance until the desired cooked, browned mixture isreached. In classical French cooking, the roux is made by mixing brownedflour with melted butter.

For further background information on the ingredients of the prior artsteps for making a roux, various excerpts from cook-books are presentedbelow:

Larousse Gastronomique, by Prosper Montagne; Crown Publishers, Inc., NewYork (1961):

"ROUX--Mixture of butter or other fatty substance and flour, cookedtogether for varying periods of time depending on its final use.

The roux is the thickening element in sauces.

There are three kinds of roux: white roux, blond roux and brown roux.

Brown roux is used to thicken rich brown sauces like "Espagnole" and"Demi-glace" (see SAUCE). It is made by cooking flour in clarifiedbutter in the oven, gently and for a long time, stirring frequently. Theclarified fat from a marimite may also be used, but in each case theproportions are equal amounts by tablespoons of flour and of butter orfat.

This roux should be a good light brown colour. It can be kept for quitea long time.

Blond roux is made only with butter. The proportions of butter and flourare the same as for brown roux. It is cooked more rapidly and is onlymade at the moment it is needed. Its colour should be a pale gold.

White roux is used for "Bechamel" and "Veloute" sauces and special thicksoups.

It is made by cooking flour and clarified butter for 5 minutes over theheat and stirring constantly with a wooden spoon."

Joy of Cooking, by Irma S. Rombauer et al; Bobbs-Merrill Co., Inc.,Indianapolis, Indiana (1964):

"Roux--The most common thickeners for savory sauces are the roux--white,blonde or brown. All of these are made of the same ingredients to beginwith, but change in character as heat is applied. These mixtures offlour and fats are blended gently over very low heat from 5 minutes to amuch longer period, depending on your available time and your patience.White roux should not color; blonde, barely; and brown should reach thecolor of hazelnut and smell deliciously baked. Unless a roux is cookedlong enough to dispel the raw taste of flour, the unpleasant flavor willdominate the strongest stocks and seasoning. And unless the flour andbutter are stirred to distribute the heat to allow the starch granulesto swell evenly, they will later fail to absorb the liquid. Thereforethe sauce will be thin. This heated blending period is important. Usingtoo high heat to try hurrying it will burn the flour, giving it a bittertaste and it will shrink the starch, making in incapable of continuingto swell.

For White roux-based sauces, see Bechamel, page 322; for blonde, seeBanquette de Veau, page 419; for brown, see Sauce Espagnole, page 326.Since most cooks use some form of roux every day, you may find it atime-saver to make on in advance and store it in tablespoon size unitsunder refrigeration. It will keep in the freezer, too, for severalmonths if you do the following: when the roux has been cooked to thedesired color and is still soft, measure it by tablespoons on a bakingsheet and freeze. Transfer the frozen wafers to a plastic bag orwide-topped container and store in the freezer. To thicken sauce, dropseveral wafers of the original roux in the sauce to reach the thicknessdesired. Or you may soften wafers in a double broiler over hot water andproceed as usual with the making of the sauce."

A Concise Encyclopedia of Gastronomy, by Andre L. Simon; Bramhall House,New York (compilation of previous publications 1939-1946):

"ROUX--a generic term for various flour bindings. A roux is sometimesbrown, sometimes white of "blond", according the use that it is intendedfor. It is really but a Bechamel sauce (q.v.) in its essentials. One ormore spoonfuls of butter are placed in a small saucepan and, when it ismelted, the same amount of flour is added and stirred into the butter.If a "thin" sauce is required, one spoonful of flour is used to two ofbutter. The mixture must colour gently to the desired shade, then theliquid indicated by the recipe is added, little by little, and the sauceseasoned as desired and allowed to mellow by the side of the stove. Thedripping from a piece of roast meat is sometimes used instead of butter;this improves the flavor of the sauce if intended to be served with theroast."

To prepare a roux in the past has taken a great amount of attention,care and time with much hand stirring to produce a quality roux and inparticular to prevent scorching of the roux. As a result of thesedemanding factors, the automatic preparation of a roux has, it isbelieved, never been heretofore achieved on a practical basis, requiringa relatively great deal of time, patience and skill in the preparationof roux by hand by commerical processors, chefs and home consumers.

SUMMARY DISCUSSION OF INVENTION

The present invention is directed to an automatic cooking systemdesigned to brown the flour into a roux by mixing wheat flour with oiland applying a constant, controlled heat to the ingredient withcontrolled, prolonged agitation. In the system, the heat and agitationis properly controlled until the roux is darkened to the desired degreewith controlled heat and color without scorching, thereby replacing handstirring for long periods of time.

The cooking system of the present invention includes a pot andassociated, controlled agitator in which the agitator blades or paddlesare weighted and pivoted to a floating rotor connection so that thebottom areas of the floating rotor connector and pivoted bars are incontinuous contact with the bottom of the roux pot to minimize thecontact of the flour and oil ingredients for no more than, for example,one second, thus preventing any scorching exposure of the mix while itis at a substantially elevated temperature.

The browning of the mix is controlled by a timed, thermostaticallydriven controller setable for, for example, "light," "medium" or "dark"roux, which automatically turns off the heating energy (whether electricor gas or otherwise) when the roux reaches the cooking durationrequired. However, although the controller turns off the heating energy,it continues to allow the agitator to be turned without the applicationof heat until the roux mix has cooled down to a temperature of forexample 130 degrees F. The roux is then complete and can be stored atnormal room temperatures until needed for use.

The preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a centrallylocated shaft carrying in floating fashion two diametrically-opposed,pivoted paddle arms extending completely across the diameter of the potbottom, although of course more or less blades could be used dependingupon the size of the pot, speed of rotation and the cooking temperatureof the system.

By using the foregoing features of the invention, the present inventionachieves in a practical, reliable and relatively inexpensive fashion amethod and apparatus for automatically preparing a roux according todesired specifications without the need for any significant manualsupervision or intervention, and all at a relatively low cost.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a further understanding of the nature and objects of the presentinvention, reference should be had to the following detaileddescription, taking in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, inwhich like parts are given like reference numerals and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of theautomatic roux making cooker of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the agitator and controller system elements ofthe automatic roux maker cooker illustrated in FIG. 1, with one of theagitator paddle bars lifted to illustrate its pivoting action.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the cooker of FIG. 1 (without the electricalheater) with the pot partially cut away to show the interior placementof the agitator member and the thermostatic sensor, which is part of thecontroller system; and

FIG. 4 is a partial, perspective, close-up view of the attachmentbetween the agitator shaft and the floating connection of the pivotablepaddle bars of the embodiment of FIGS. 1-3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Cooker

As shown primarily in FIGS. 1 and 3, the preferred embodiment of theautomatic roux maker of the present invention comprises three basicelements: An agitator-temperature controller system of FIG. 2, apreferably cylindrical shaped, flat bottomed cooking pot 17, a thesource of cooking heat 18 for the pot 17. The agitator and controllersystem of FIG. 2 is likewise comprised of three basic elements, namelythe motor driven agitator 1-9, the controller system 11-15, and themounting structures for them, including lid 7 and bracket 10 which mountand support the agitator and controller system on the pot 17.

As can best be seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, the agitator system includes acentrally-located, vertical rotor shaft 3 which carries at its bottomdiametrically opposed, weighted, radially extending, paddle arms or bars1 which are pivotally attached by pivot pins 2 to the rotor 3 by meansof a centrally located, floating support connector plate 4. As can bestbe seen in FIG. 4, the floating connector 4 includes a slot 4' whichloosely fits within a slotted groove 3' in the bottom of the rotor 3,with the connector 4 held within the slotted groove 3' by means of theslot/rod pin 5. The connector pin 5 extends through the female openings5' and through the slot 4' to then be locked in place by means of thecotter pin 6, which extends through the female opening 6' in the pin 5.

The rotor 3 is rotatably driven by the electrical motor 9 which drivesthe rotor at the desired speed. As the rotor 3 is driven by the motor 9,the paddle bars or arms 1 which together extend across the completediameter of the pot 17, ride on and sweep over the bottom of the pot 17.

The connections provided by the pivots 2 and slot 4' allow the radiallyextended arms 1 to move up and down and pivotally in the axial planewith respect to the rotor shaft 3.

The pivot pins 2 and the slotted, floating connector 4 thus allow thepaddle arms 1 to adjust to the depth of the pot 17 and generally toaccommodate the upper surface of the bottom 17' of the pot 17, while atleast generally maintaining sweeping contact completely across the fulldiameter of the bottom 17' of the pot 17. If the upper bottom surface17' of the pot 17 is not flat, the bottom edges of the arms 1 and theconnector 4 can be contoured to properly mate with the upper contour ofthe pot bottom.

The starting and stopping of the motor 9 is controlled by the electricalswitching circuitry of the controller 13 (note FIGS. 1-3), which alsoincludes a timing circuit, and a temperature sensing circuit whichreceives temperature level information from the thermostat sensor 15located in the interior of the pot 17. The controller 13 also includeselectrical switching circuitry to control, by means of electrical powercontrol line 19, the duration and amount of heating energy which isapplied by the cooker 18 (note FIG. 1).

Two control set switches 11 and 12 are included on the controller box13, the first 11 being used to shut off the agitator motor 9 when thetemperature of the roux drops down to a set lower temperature levelafter the cooking has been terminated, while the second 12 sets theduration and temperature level of the timed cooking cycle.

The motor 9 and the controller box 13 are mounted on a bracket 10, whichin turn is carried by a partial lid 7 that rests on and is carried bythe curved, upper lip 21 of the pot 17. As can be seen on the right sideof FIG. 3, the lid 7 preferably has a like, curved periphery on itsunderside to mate with the curvature of the lid 21.

The lid 7 (with its associated agitator and controller systems) arelocked to the pot 17 by means of for example, two, opposed draw latches16. The lid 7 also includes a first aperture 8 for the rotor 3 and asecond aperture 14 for the stem of the thermostat sensor 15. The pot 17preferably includes handles 20 for ease in handling and moving the pot17.

The controller 13, the motor 9 and the source of heat 18 includes anappropriate power line source of AC current, which is not illustratedfor simplicity purposes.

Although the heat source 18 is preferably electrical for ease incontrol, other sources of heat such as for example gas, etc., of coursecould be used with the proper control valves, etc. Likewise, because thespecifics of such are not a part of this invention and because manydifferent circuits are readily available to those of ordinary skill inthe controllers art, the control circuitry of the controller 13 is notillustrated for simplicity purposes.

Method

In the preferred embodiment of the method of automatic roux making ofthe present invention, the ingredients of the roux, namely for examplewheat flour and vegetable oil (or other source of fat), are put into thepot 17 to a level sufficiently high to cover the bulb of the thermostatsensor 15, for the ultimate mixing and cooking of the ingredients toproduce the roux.

There are typically three levels of roux desired, namely "light,""medium" and "dark" as a measure of the browness of the final roux,which level is based on the length and temperature level of the cookingcycle of the ingredients. This degree of cooking, which determines theduration of the cooking time, is set by means of the cooker turn-offcontrol set knob 12 which has appropriate markings indicating, forexample, the three possible desired levels. The post-cooking, loweredtemperature level for cutting off the agitator motor 9 is set by meansof the motor cut-off control set knob 11.

Once all of the appropriate ingredients for the roux have been added tothe pot 17 and the proper settings have been made at the control setknobs 11 and 12, the system is turned on causing power to flow to thecooking heat source 18 and to the agitator motor 9, causing heat to beapplied to the roux mixture and the paddle arms or blades 1 to be sweptacross the bottom of the pot 17 mixing and moving the ingredients beingheated. Once the temperature level reaches the desired cookingtemperature, the control circuitry within the controller 13 maintainsthat constant level of temperature through control line 19 to the heatsource 18 for the cooking time set by the cooker set knob 12. Duringthis period of cooking time, the ingredients become cooked and form thedesired color level of roux (for example light, medium or dark brown).

All during the heating and cooking cycle the rotating paddle arms 1 havecontinuously swept across the full bottom of the pot 17 preventing anyof the roux ingredients being cooked from sitting on the bottom for asignificant period of time and thus preventing any of the roux frombeing scorched.

After the controller 13 has determined that the cooking temperature hasbeen maintained a sufficiently long period of time based on the settingof control knob 12, it cuts off the energy source to the cooking heatsource 18, and, as a result, the temperature of the roux begins to dropover a period of time under ambient conditions. However, to continue toinsure that no scorching of the roux occurs while the roux is still at asubstantially elevated temperature, the controller 13 allows theagitator motor 9 to continue to run until the roux temperature reaches asufficiently low, safe temperature level (as determined by the settingof the motor cut-off set knob 11). At this point, power to the motor iscut off by the controller 13 and the system is completely "off." Theresulting roux can then be stored at regular room temperature and usedas needed, or, alternatively, packaged and shipped out on a commercialbasis for use by others.

As a typical example, subject of course to great variations, thefollowing exemplary, detailed information is provided based on an actualinstallation which tested satisfactorily.

    ______________________________________                                        Element        Exemplary Detail(s)                                            ______________________________________                                        Pot 17         Ten Gallons                                                                   (Seventeen inches in dia.                                                     and Eighteen inches in ht.)                                    Speed of rotation                                                                            Twenty RPM                                                     of rotor 3                                                                    Weight of a single                                                                           Eight oz.                                                      arm 1                                                                         Weight of a floating                                                                         Ten oz.                                                        connector 4                                                                   Amt. of wheat flour                                                                          Twenty-Five pounds                                             Amt. of oil    Two gallons                                                    Cooking temp.  Three Hundred Fifty degrees F.                                 Cooking time   Sixty minutes (light)                                                         Seventy minutes (medium)                                                      Eighty minutes (dark)                                          Cut-off cooling                                                                              One Hundred Thirty degrees F.                                  temp. for motor 9                                                             ______________________________________                                    

Of course there can be great variations in the sizes and configurationsof the cooking pot, although the container preferably should be circularin horizontal cross-section; the relative amount(s) of the ingredients,the particular ingredients and possible additives; the temperature leveland time duration of the cooking cycle; the source of heat; and theparticular control circuitry utilized in controller 13, as well as inthe specifics of the other structural and method details illustratedand/or described.

Because may varying and different embodiments may be made within thescope of the inventive concept herein taught, and because manymodifications may be made in the embodiment herein detailed inaccordance with the descriptive requirements of the law, it is to beunderstood that the details herein are to be interpreted as illustrativeand not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:
 1. An automatic cooker system for preparing a rouxor the like, comprising:a cooking pot having a bottom and cylindricallyshaped side walls; heat source means for heating and cooking fluidcontents of said pot; agitator means associated with the pot for mixingand moving the fluid contents of said pot, said agitator means includinga centrally located rotor shaft extending down to a position injuxtaposition to the pot bottom; at least one paddle arm located at thebottom of said rotor shaft and extending radially out from said shaftwith its bottom edge in sweeping contact with the upper surface of thepot bottom; a floating connector connecting said paddle arm to saidrotor shaft by means of a connection which allows said paddle arm tomove up and down and to pivot in the axial plane with respect to saidrotor shaft; and a powered motor attached to said rotor shaft forrotatively driving it to move said paddle arms in sweeping contactacross the bottom of said pot; and controller system means associatedwith said agitator means and said heat source for controlling the amountand duration of heating energy supplied to said heat source for said potand for automatically controlling the power to said motor, saidcontroller system including temperature sensing means for sensing thetemperature of the contents of pot; controller circuitry meansassociated with said temperature sensing means for controlling the heatlevel and duration of heating of said heat source to the pot until thedesired set degree of color level of the roux is reached; and motorcontrol circuitry means associated with said motor for maintaining themotor in operation while the roux is being cooked and for a significantperiod of time thereafter while the cooked roux is cooking down until asafe, lowered temperature is reached.
 2. The cooker system of claim 1,wherein said motor control circuitry is operationally interconnectedwith said temperature sensing means sensing the point in time when thesafe, lowered temperature is reached and cutting off the power to saidmotor.
 3. The cooking system of claim 1, wherein said controllercircuitry means further includes three setting point means producingthree different color levels of roux, said setting point means affectingthe amount of cooking of the roux.
 4. The cooking system of claim 1,there is included at least two diametrically opposed paddle arms, andsaid connection includes a connector plate connected to said paddle armsby means of pivot pins; said connection further including a pinconnection to said shaft fitting through a centrally located verticalslot in said connector plate, allowing said connector plate with itspivot connections to said paddle arms to move up and down.
 5. Thecooking system of claim 1, wherein there is included at least one pairof diametrically opposed, paddle arms.